Rover wheel power

[Adam_Kerbal]

Is there anywhere I can find the individual power of each rover, similar to how each engine has thrust? This would help greatly with rover design.

I've currently got a 10 ton rover with 4 Rovemax M1 rover wheels and it only reaches 2-3 m/s on Mun - is possibly a misalignment issue or do I simply have too few wheels?

I understand that friction can also have an impact, but for now I'm looking for rule-of-thumb values. 

Edited January 28, 2021 by Adam_Kerbal
Specified "on Mun"

[Fraktal]

26 minutes ago, Adam_Kerbal said:

is possibly a misalignment issue or do I simply have too few wheels?

Probably the latter. Wiki says it should be capable of over ten times that speed.

I only ever used the S2 wheels myself so far, but even those can propel a rover weighing a few hundred kilograms much faster than that.

[Adam_Kerbal]

26 minutes ago, Fraktal said:

Probably the latter. Wiki says it should be capable of over ten times that speed.

I only ever used the S2 wheels myself so far, but even those can propel a rover weighing a few hundred kilograms much faster than that.

Thanks! Are you just using four S2 wheels? It did seem strange. 

[vv3k70r]

1 hour ago, Adam_Kerbal said:

Is there anywhere I can find the individual power of each rover, similar to how each engine has thrust?

It depend on traction. Traction depend on mass and friction distribution. This depend on celestial body.

1 hour ago, Adam_Kerbal said:

I've currently got a 10 ton rover with 4 Rovemax M1 rover wheels and it only reaches 2-3 m/s on Mun - is possibly a misalignment issue or do I simply have too few wheels?

Turn of traction control. Meybe not on all wheels at the begining.

You can turn off friction control too.

Best asing this to actionkey so You can get traction back. Do not forget about reaction wheels switching SAS-normal, because You gonna need them.

1 hour ago, Adam_Kerbal said:

I understand that friction can also have an impact, but for now I'm looking for rule-of-thumb values. 

VBuild Your own wheels using electric motor and construction parts - they are far better then best wheels in stock.

[king of nowhere]

2 hours ago, Adam_Kerbal said:

I've currently got a 10 ton rover with 4 Rovemax M1 rover wheels and it only reaches 2-3 m/s on Mun - is possibly a misalignment issue or do I simply have too few wheels?

are you on flat ground? going upslope, even a few degrees, can have a dramatic impact on wheel performance.

as for being able to calculate a wheel performance, i would like that too. so far i never encountered hard data, the only certainty is that the traction value will be "less than you would like"

[Snark]

3 hours ago, Adam_Kerbal said:

I've currently got a 10 ton rover with 4 Rovemax M1 rover wheels and it only reaches 2-3 m/s on Mun - is possibly a misalignment issue or do I simply have too few wheels?

Could you post a screenshot of the rover?

[Adam_Kerbal]

Thanks for all of your answers Replies are below - in the end I adjusted the craft and yes, the wheels were very poorly aligned.

 

On 1/28/2021 at 3:29 PM, vv3k70r said:

It depend on traction. Traction depend on mass and friction distribution. This depend on celestial body.

Turn of traction control. Meybe not on all wheels at the begining.

You can turn off friction control too.

Best asing this to actionkey so You can get traction back. Do not forget about reaction wheels switching SAS-normal, because You gonna need them.

VBuild Your own wheels using electric motor and construction parts - they are far better then best wheels in stock.

Thanks,  those are some handy tips - I'll assign them to action keys and test them out. For now I'm keen to work with stock parts.

On 1/28/2021 at 4:37 PM, king of nowhere said:

are you on flat ground? going upslope, even a few degrees, can have a dramatic impact on wheel performance.

as for being able to calculate a wheel performance, i would like that too. so far i never encountered hard data, the only certainty is that the traction value will be "less than you would like"

This was on level ground, it didn't speed up much going downhill either. Hard data would be great!

On 1/28/2021 at 5:50 PM, Snark said:

Could you post a screenshot of the rover?

Absolutely - it's a monstrosity, I really just slapped some wheels on some extra tanks slapped onto a rescue lander

And here's the updated version - not much different, but far more effective.

 

Could you post some shots of your rovers?

Edited January 29, 2021 by Adam_Kerbal
Images not working

[vv3k70r]

This rover is made on side from parts - it caries cargo for construction.

This was the mistake:

This was solution:

[Adam_Kerbal]

Wow, that's a real tug! Are you using the breaking ground pack?

[vv3k70r]

1 hour ago, Adam_Kerbal said:

Wow, that's a real tug! Are you using the breaking ground pack?

Yes, I bought all dlc that was avilable. so there are robotic parts wich turn to be a crap for longer use (loosing relative position to each other).

 

To solve wheel problem with Your rover (attaching wheels) in EVAconstruction change snap and just set them same way on parts, than rotate them and move same way counting clicks.

It will look something like this cargo site rover - it is build completly on site from scrap parts.

Try to avoid robotics - even in orbit things exploade because of them (damping issue, flexibility even when locked - there is lot of it) but You can workaround using KIS/KAS (it do same thing, but without this "exploding" part).

[Adam_Kerbal]

On 1/29/2021 at 8:37 PM, vv3k70r said:

Yes, I bought all dlc that was avilable. so there are robotic parts wich turn to be a crap for longer use (loosing relative position to each other).

 

To solve wheel problem with Your rover (attaching wheels) in EVAconstruction change snap and just set them same way on parts, than rotate them and move same way counting clicks.

It will look something like this cargo site rover - it is build completly on site from scrap parts.

Try to avoid robotics - even in orbit things exploade because of them (damping issue, flexibility even when locked - there is lot of it) but You can workaround using KIS/KAS (it do same thing, but without this "exploding" part).

That's a shame about the robotic parts - a lot of people seem to be really enjoying them so I'm surprised that they're so buggy.

 

Thanks for your advice I'm mostly using EVA construction to move things - it really helps in fixing mistakes or reconfiguring ships quickly for a new task. I'm currently disassembling the rover for an EVA construction contract - another rover needs wheels, and the original one will be sent home to be replaced with my updated design.